Physicists found self-similar patterns in the drum pattern of a recording of the 80s hit song “I Keep Forgettin’. THEESatisfaction worked with music video director Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes to produce a “short visual meditation on the textile traditions of home, sacred Geo Metrics, theta based communication and the whirling dervish. A sonically driven work of ancient Afro continuum.”

Artists, scientists and mathematicians are looking at the ways in which music and computation influence design. I’m exploring different ways to overlay and overlap or collage digital (and analog) images and sound (music visuals). I’m also experimenting with projection and reflection, specifically projecting mapping music visuals onto a laser etched design on mirrored acrylic that casts a reflection on a facing surface (wall).

Since every Pixar movie consists of computer-generated animation, every Pixar movie is an act of science. As for the really good Pixar movies, which is to say most of them, they’re miracles of science. So “The Science Behind Pixar,” the exhibition that runs at the Museum of Science through Jan. 10, is a natural.

It’s also a wonder.

One of the first things a visitor sees is a quote from John Lasseter, who in addition to having directed the first two “Toy Story” movies and the two “Cars” movies is chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. “The art challenges the technology,” Lasseter has said, “and the technology inspires the art.” Those words set a tone for the show and neatly summarize it. What that summary leaves out, of course, is just how the challenge and inspiration work. That’s where the rest of the show comes in. You could argue that it’s like one big ad for the studio. But that’s OK, since that’s like saying it’s one big ad for magic.

“The Science Behind Pixar,” which the studio and the museum jointly developed, will tour nationally after its Boston debut. Smartly organized, the show begins with a five-minute introductory video. A pair of Pixar employees offer an overview of how the studio works, taking us into its Emeryville, Calif., operation. Like the show as a whole, the intro is lively, humorous, and informative.

The rest of the exhibition is divided into eight sections or clusters. Each focuses on a key element in the production process of a Pixar film. Examples come from all 15 of the studio’s features, including the latest, “Inside Out,” and at least one Pixar short, “Geri’s Game.”

The elements are modeling, rigging, surfaces, sets and cameras, animation, simulation, lighting, and rendering. Lighting is self-explanatory, as are sets and cameras, and surfaces. Well, sometimes not so self-explanatory. For “A Bug’s Life,” Pixar technicians came up with what they called a “bug cam”: a miniature camera that rolled on Lego wheels so animators could see what the world looked like from an ant’s perspective.

Recent technological advances have affected many areas of our lives: the way we communicate, collaborate, learn, and, of course, teach. Along with that, those advances necessitated an expansion of our vocabulary, producing definitions such as digital natives, digital immigrants, and, the topic of this post -- "21st-century teacher."

As I am writing this post, I am trying to recall if I ever had heard phrases such as "20th-century teacher" or "19th-century teacher." Quick

Google search reassures me that there is no such word combination. Changing the "20th" to "21st" brings different results: a 21st-century school, 21st-century education, 21st-century teacher, 21st-century skills -- all there!

I then searched for Twitter hashtags and Amazon books, and the results were just the same; nothing for the "20th-century teacher" while a lot for the "21st": #teacher21, #21stcenturyskills, #21stCTeaching and no books with titles #containing "20th century" while quite a few on the 21st-century teaching and learning.

Obviously, teaching in the 21-century is altogether different phenomenon; never before learning could be happening the way it is now -- everywhere, all the time, on any possible topic, supporting any possible learning style or preference. But what does being a 21st-century teacher really mean?

Creation-based tasks promote higher-order thinking, encourage collaboration, and connect students to real-world learning. Whether you're teaching in a project-based learning classroom, engaging students with authentic assessments, or committed to pushing students to analyze and synthesize, providing opportunities for creation is a must.

Students who are "making" to demonstrate their learning can produce content that is shareable and valuable. Their creations can be geared toward a specific audience and viewed outside of the classroom. The sense of purpose that students have as creators can be leveraged to increase engagement and get learners of all ages excited about content.

There are a handful of dynamic iPad apps that can turn your students into creators. This doesn't happen magically when they launch the apps. Combined with thoughtful planning, rigorous tasks, and clear expectations, your students can create powerful products that show you -- and the world -- what they've learned.

Film director Martin Scorsese urged Americans to pay greater heed to “visual literacy” and to embrace their rich cinema heritage before it literally fades away.

Scorsese appealed for a greater national commitment to film restoration and preservation when he delivered the annual Jefferson humanities lecture at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

Like never before, people today are buffeted by images, said the 70-year-old Oscar-winning director of such acclaimed motion pictures as “The Departed”, “Raging Bull”, “Goodfellas”, “Taxi Driver” and, most recently, “Hugo.”

“That’s why I believe we need to stress visual literacy in schools,” said Scorsese, the first filmmaker ever to deliver the Jefferson address since it was launched in 1972 by the federally funded National Endowment for the Humanities.

“Young people need to understand that not all images are out there to be consumed like, you know, fast food and then forgotten,” he said.

“We need to educate them to understand the difference between moving images that engage their humanity and their intelligence, and moving images that are just selling them something.”

Speaking in a slightly musty wood-panelled auditorium within the gargantuan Kennedy arts complex, the fast-talking and bespectacled native New Yorker welcomed the innovations that digital technology has brought to his craft.

Thanks in part to digitization, the Film Foundation — a non-profit he founded in 1990 — has helped to save more than 500 fragile old films that otherwise would have been lost to decomposition.

Seth Rosenblatt: "Using technology to develop new storytelling techniques may seem an odd fit for Google, but it’s no more unusual than anything else the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects division has produced."

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft phoned home Tuesday night, reporting that it had made it to Pluto and beyond after crossing the solar system for 9 1/2 years. To the immense relief of the men and women who had built it and then flung it into deep space, the robotic probe sent a brief stream of data, received shortly before 9 p.m., confirming that it had survived the close pass of the dwarf planet.

“We have a healthy spacecraft. We’ve recorded data in the Pluto system. And we’re outbound from Pluto,” Alice Bowman, the mission operations manager, announced to her thrilled colleagues in the control room at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the home of New Horizons. In a nearby auditorium, hundreds of people who had been watching the video feed stood and gave the team a standing ovation.

On its approach to Pluto, the spacecraft obtained the most arresting image yet of the dwarf planet. Pluto is not a bland and featureless ball of ice, but rather a complex, variegated, mottled world with broad snowfields, structures that look like cliffs or fault lines, and a strikingly bright heart-shaped area that could be the eroded remnant of a giant impact crater.

I was just sent to this site to look at and I think it has some pretty awesome visual storytelling potential. I have no financial relationship here -- just passing along a new tool for you to consider.

I've tested out the site and app and really like it. It is very intuitive and easy to work with. The end result visually is stunning. Plus they just released their iPhone app today.

I think lots of you could use this tool -- myself included -- to create fabulous stories for your business. You might want to try it out.

Of course, your success with this tool will depend on actually crafting stories instead of just a progression of photos. You know -- stories that have a beginning-middle-end, a problem and resolution. And don't forget the transformation that occurs, and a key message at the end. But you know what to do!

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.